CALLAWAY GARDENS, Ga., Feb. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Kevin Sabet will be presenting on Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths About Marijuana, at the Callaway Gardens' Conference Center in Pine Mountain, Georgia on Monday, March 3. His morning workshop will be repeated in the afternoon. He will also be the plenary luncheon speaker that same day. See below for registration instructions.
Dr. Sabet will provide an overview of the current drug policy trends in the United States, and debunk some of the most cited myths about marijuana use, for instance: marijuana is harmless and non-addictive, and legalization will solve the government's budgetary problems.
Dr. Sabet states that our greatest concern is the inevitable rise of a second big tobacco industry, this time marketing marijuana to our children and youth. He will refer to the current problems in Colorado and Washington as examples. His presentation concludes with an overview of our policy options, describing a smarter, science-based approach to marijuana policy that neither legalizes marijuana nor demonizes its users.
Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D. has studied, researched, and written about drug policy, drug markets, drug prevention, drug treatment, criminal justice policy, addiction, and public policy analysis for almost 18 years. In 2000, he served in the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in the Clinton Administration and from 2003-2004 he was the senior speechwriter at ONDCP in the George W. Bush Administration. From 2009-2011, he was a political appointee and senior drug policy advisor to President Obama's drug czar, R. Gil Kerlikowske.
In 2013, he and former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy founded Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana). SAM advocates for approaches that concern health, prevention, treatment, recovery, and public safety. SAM's board is comprised of the most distinguished panel of public health physicians and addiction specialists in the country. Dr. Sabet directs the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida, Department of Psychiatry. He is the author of numerous monographs, peer-reviewed journal articles, op-eds, and his first book, Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths About Marijuana (Beaufort, 2013). He received his doctorate and M.S. from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar in 2007 and 2002 and his B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001.
The workshop and plenary are being presented as part of 9th Annual Georgia Summit on Youth Issues (formerly the Annual Summit on Substance Abuse, Mental Health and School Safety/Discipline) being held March 3-5, 2014 sponsored by the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse.
Click on the link below to register for the entire 2.5 Day Summit. The registration fee is $325.
http://www.ciclt.net/sn/events/e_signup.aspx?ClientCode=gcsa&E_ID=500077&RegType=ATT
If you only want to attend the Monday workshop and plenary the cost is $130 and you need to contact Ms. Donna Dixon at donna@gasubstanceabuse.org or call her at (404) 210-5514.
For more information, please contact Dr. Gregg Raduka at graduka@livedrugfree.org
SOURCE The Council on Alcohol and Drugs
